Big 2 out of Rondo fog

Pierce, KG know C’s must play as team

Credit: Matt Stone

Paul Pierce takes a break on the treadmill before practice at the Celtics training facility on Tuesday.

Credit: Matt Stone

Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge looks out towards the court at the Celtics training facility on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

Credit: Matt Stone

The Celtics meet in the center of the court just before practice at their training facility on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.

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WALTHAM — The sky has most definitely changed over the Celtics. The view is much clearer days after Rajon Rondo was lost for the season.

In the same places they once stood and spoke of grandiose plans for May and June, now there is steely perspective. Now they don’t talk so loud.

Kevin Garnett actually laughed when asked yesterday whether there’s a chance the Celts can be better over the remainder of this season — without their All-Star point guard.

“What are you looking for, a ray of hope here, man?” said KG. “Look, I’m just trying to give y’all the basis of what it is right now amongst us and our mindset going in and taking on this big agenda.”

After nearly 48 hours of hearing the calls to put nearly everyone on outbound container ships in Boston Harbor, Garnett and Paul Pierce are now more matter-of-fact than bold.

“You know, I want to retire as a Celtic,” said Pierce. “That’s been my longtime goal. But it’s not in my control. The organization, they make their decisions, but it’s something I desire.”

Leading scorers on elite teams don’t hear questions about their trade prospects, but the part of that the Celtics didn’t bring into play with their own sub-.500 efforts, Rajon Rondo’s torn right ACL completed.

And it is interesting that the lads have discovered the solutions to the current crisis are the same ones that were needed when Rondo’s wheel was operational.

It may sound rather simple, but it’s something we’ve been discussing here for a while in terms of ball movement, and it’s true: The Celts need to play more as a team.

“It’s very important,” said Pierce. “You know, we’ve been feeling that way even before Rondo got hurt. We needed to come together a little bit more, especially with the way we’ve been playing, but probably now even more so than ever.

“The chips are really stacked up against us when you don’t have your best player out there, but it’s time to give other guys opportunities to step up and elevate their game, and I know they’re capable of doing it.”

Playing time and rotations will change without Rondo and his 37.4 minutes per game, but the goals — the ones the Celts had veered from — will not.

“We have a system, and it’s ran a certain way,” said Garnett. “It’s predicated for when guys are in and predicated for when guys are out. As long as you run the system the way it’s supposed to go, it’s not perfect, but it never skips a beat.

“It’s when we get to doing things individual and not doing things as a whole and not doing things as a team that we find ourselves struggling sometimes or not making adjustments or whatever it may be.”

Think about it. That’s pretty basic stuff. Pierce and Garnett are saying the Celtics haven’t been together as a basketball entity as much as needed. They’ve spoken about having to clean some things up and play with more intensity, but now they are admitting what has been obvious to observers — that people were going in different directions.

“I think everybody after Sunday was in a fog almost. Like, stop playing, stop (expletive), that type of thing,” said Garnett. “And just settling in, I think everybody’s really trying to put their arms around the concept that he’s actually hurt — and hurt to the point where he can’t play.

“I think that’s what’s got everybody kind of bewildered and in a fog, if you will — even him. He came in this morning, and just seeing him there, it was just kind of unreal. But the fact is that it is real, and, like I said, everybody’s going to consolidate and pick up the pieces and try to carry this thing.”

And instead of offering strong testimony that, of course this is all going to work, the Celts are both participants and interested observers.

“I think it’s going to be, honestly, an adjustment period,” Garnett said. “I think now that we know what the reality part of it is, it’s something that Rondo’s not coming through the door saying, ‘Ta-da.’ It’s what it is. Until that settles in, I can’t answer that truthfully and honestly. But right now, it’s up in the air. But we’ll see soon. This is a different group. We’ll see soon. We’ll see how we react to all of it.”

And while it is clear that people like Avery Bradley and Leandro Barbosa and Courtney Lee and Jason Terry will become more prominent, so will Garnett need to provide more offense and Pierce more orchestration.

“That’s a role that’s thrown upon me now that he’s out,” said the latter of Rondo. “I’m one of the playmakers on this team. I create offense for guys. It just enhances now that Rondo is out, and I’m given more responsibilities in that area when he’s not playing. I’m more than capable of doing it. I’ve done it a lot of times, so it’s here for the rest of the season now.”

How long that turns out to be is largely a function of how well the Celtics can achieve a hoop harmony that eluded them under far better circumstances this year.